Life .

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Janet Jackson, 1993  - Ph. Patrick Demarchelier

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chloe x halle photographed by daria kobayashi ritch for blanc magazine

[catandfinch]

After you’ve finished your favorite bottle of wine, it might end up looking like this: the beauty of glass beads in West Africa.

Ghana, Africa 

photo @catandfinch

[accradotalt]

GA-DANGME ETHNIC GROUPS IN GHANA -

BEST BEADS MAKERS

Krobo bead making has been documented by european “academics” actively in the 1920s. Ghanaian powder glass bead making dates back to centuries of master craftsmanship. Bead making in Ghana was first documented by John Barbot in 1746. Beads still play important roles in Dangme society, in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, be it in rituals of birth, coming of age, marriage, or death.

Akoso beads Older Ghanaian dry core powder glass beads, dating from the 1950s, are the Akoso beads, which were also manufactured by the Krobo. The most common colour of Akoso beads is yellow. There are also green, and rarely blue or black specimens. The glass surface is often worn away at the ends and around the beads’ equator, exposing a grey core. The most prevalent decorations, preformed from strips of hot glass, were applied in patterns of criss-crossed loops, longitudinal stripes and circles. Glass from crushed Venetian beads was used for making the glass powder, and the decorative patterns were made of glass derived from Venetian beads, or from small whole Venetian beads such as so-called green heart and white-heart beads.

Krobo bead (fused glass fragments) Krobo powder glass beads are made in vertical molds fashioned out of a special, locally dug clay. Most molds have a number of depressions, designed to hold one bead each, and each of these depressions, in turn, has a small central depression to hold the stem of a cassava leaf. The mold is filled with finely ground glass that can be built up in layers in order to form sequences and patterns of different shapes and colours. The technique could be described as being somewhat similar to creating a sand “painting” or to filling a bottle with different-coloured sands and is called the “vertical-mold dry powder glass technique”. When cassava leaf stems are used, these will burn away during firing and leave the bead perforation. Certain powder glass bead variants, however, receive their perforations after firing, by piercing the still hot and pliable glass with a hand-made, pointed metal tool. Firing takes place in clay kilns until the glass fuses. There are three distinct styles of modern Krobo powder glass beads:

Krobo “Writing” beads Fused glass fragment beads which are being made by fusing together fairly large bottle glass or glass bead fragments. These beads are translucent or semi-translucent and receive their perforations, as well as their final shapes, after firing. Beads composed of two halves (usually bicones, occasionally spheres) that are being created from pulverized glass. The two halves are being joined together in a second, short firing process.

The “Mue ne Angma” or “Writing Beads”, conventional powder glass beads made from finely ground glass, with glass slurry decorations that are being “written” on and fused in a second firing.

Manye Desouza.

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[divine-genesis]

Transparent Condor Agate Geode.

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Melanin 🍫 / Locs Edition 1

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Name this movie....

IG: tayybann

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[fawnvelveteen]

Vintage Art Deco Jade Jewellery

[bekkathyst]

These are the beads I have available for custom bracelets!

If you would like to claim one, please be sure to read this entire post!

So here’s the rundown. Below is a picture with each stone numbered, and below that is the name of each stone, along with the price for a bracelet.

PLEASE NOTE:

I need the size of your wrist. To measure you can use a measuring tape or you can wrap a string around your wrist, cut it to length, and then measure the string with a ruler. I will depend on you telling me your wrist size and if you measure incorrectly I cannot be responsible for the bracelet not fitting. Please let me know if you have any questions about that.

The price does not change for bigger or smaller sizes. All sizes will cost the same. Price is determined by the type of stone and size of the bead.

They will be made with handmade copper clasps. You can upgrade to sterling silver or gold-filled clasps for an additional $5.

Payment is due when the stone is claimed and all the options are chosen (metal, size, etc). I will make the bracelets throughout the next couple of weeks.

To claim: send me a message over the instant messenger with your email address, the country you’re in, the stone you’d like to claim, your wrist size, and the clasp metal. I’ll then send your invoice and get started on your bracelet! :) 

Prices include free worldwide shipping! 

*Note* These are the best and highest quality beads I’ve ever gotten my hands on!

Here are all the stones:

Kunzite - $45 (6 available)

Lapis lazuli - $25 (4 available)

Tourmalinated Quartz - $35 (2 available)

Dendritic Opal - $35 (2 available)

Faceted Smoky Quartz - $35 (4 available)

Lepidolite - $25 (3 available)

Dendritic Agate - $25 (4 available)

Chevron Amethyst - $30 (4 available)

Onyx - $20 (2 available)

Faceted Agate (Small) - $25 (4 available)

Faceted Agate (Large) - $30 (4 available)

Moss Agate - $25 (3 available)

Blue Apatite - $45 (3 available)

Blue & Gold Tiger’s Eye - $35 (3 available)

Gold Tiger’s Eye - $30 (3 available)

Larimar - $30 (1 available)

Peruvian Pink Opal - $45 (4 available)

Chrysocolla - $45 (3 available)

Azurite (Large) - $45 (4 available)

Azurite (Small) - $40 (3 available)

Phantom Amethyst - $45 (6 available)

Phosphosiderite - $45 (5 available)

Green Garnet - $35 (4 available)

Garnet - $25 (4 available)

Multi-Color Tourmaline - $30 (3 available)

Strawberry Quartz - $20 (2 available)

Faceted Rose Quartz - $25 (4 available)

Rhodochrosite - $45 (4 available)

This is what your bracelet will look like! Heavy duty beading wire is used and they’re finished with handmade clasps. These are NOT cheap stretch bracelets that are prone to exploding. And, as with all my handmade jewelry, if anything happens, I do free repairs.

Thanks, everyone :)

I will cross out each stone as they are claimed!

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What the world needs right now, is LOVE SWEET LOVE!!! ✨🌈💞

[sartorialadventure]

Samburu/Lokop/Loikop women

The Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya. They are a sub tribe of the Maasai. The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels. The name they use for themselves is Lokop or Loikop, a term which may have a variety of meanings which Samburu themselves do not agree on. Many assert that it refers to them as “owners of the land” (“lo” refers to ownership, “nkop” is land) though others present a very different interpretation of the term. The Samburu speak the Samburu dialect of the Maa language, which is a Nilo-Saharan language.

Women traditionally wore two pieces of blue or purple cloth, one piece wrapped around the waist, the second wrapped over the chest. Women keep their hair shaved and wear numerous necklaces and bracelets. In the past decade, traditional clothing styles have changed. Some women still wear two pieces of blue or red cloth, but it has become fashionable to wear cloths with animal or floral patterns in deep colors. Women may also often wear small tank tops with their cloths, and plaid skirts have also become common.

The distinctive feature of the Samburu is the amount of jewellery, especially colourful multi-beaded bracelets, anklets and necklaces they wear, both men and women. The Samburu are famous for the countless necklaces that the girls wear. These coloured multi-bead necklaces are a symbol of beauty and reflect the social status and wealth of the wearer. In the Samburu culture the more necklaces women wear the more they are considered beautiful, and it also identifies their wealth and civil status.

The girls receive the first necklaces from their father when they are very young. They are usually red in colour, which means that the father has promised to marry the daughter to an already identified man. But despite a girl being already committed to marriage, the Samburu teenagers enjoy a fairly broad level of sexual freedom and girls can have  Moran (warrior class) boyfriends.

The Samburu young warriors also give necklaces as a gift to show their love to a girl or the one with whom they have a steady relationship. This girl in the Samburu language is called nekarai, i.e. not married girl. The necklaces are expensive for their standard of living,  i.e. up to 100 US dollars for a single piece. When a girl gets married she has to return the necklaces to her boyfriend, and after that she wears heavy brass earrings that in the Samburu culture symbolize marriage. Whenever she gives birth to a son, she adds a ring to these earrings.

The Samburu women spend much of their time making jewellery, necklaces, anklets and bracelets with coloured beads; in the past they used coloured seeds, pieces of old tires, copper, brass and iron wire instead of beads. The colours have a specific meaning: white stands for purity and health because it is associated to cow’s milk; black means discomfort; yellow and orange are the colours of hospitality; while red means danger, courage and unity.

In some cases, the necklaces are used as magical amulets. For example, if a woman is infertile, or presumed as such, she will receive a collar of pearls from the wizard that will allow her to give birth to her children.

10. Photo by Sergey Agapov